Aquino, Trillanes to face treason, espionage

President Benigno Aquino III and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV will be defending themselves against charges of Treason and Espionage filed last May by the camp of President Rodrigo Duterte since the two allegedly undertook "back-channel talks" with China.

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Martin Diño, Duterte’s national campaign manager said on May of 2016 that the supporters of then running candidate Duterte took the initiative to file the case in the Office of the Ombudsman after Trillanes publicly accused Duterte of having millions in secret bank accounts.The complaint said “Senator Trillanes met with the Chinese 16 times, and he requested that the meeting [be] secret. In those meetings, Trillanes made mention that the Philippines cannot enforce coastal protection. And that made the Chinese take an aggressive [stance] and take over our areas like Scarborough Shoal and Spratly Islands. Former Rep. Ronald Adamat, one of the complainants, said that alone is enough to accuse the senator of Treason.

Although the complaint recognized that under the law, treason requires that the Philippines be involved in a war, it said “external aggression” was committed by China when it “immediately occupied the subject areas.”For Espionage, the complainants said China had been "emboldened" by the gathered information from the Senator.“We include the President because Trillanes could not have done this without the order of the President. They breached international policy. They did it without coursing their efforts through the foreign affairs department,” said AdamatSOURCE: Inquirer

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